Sign-off is the step where emails go to wait. The build is done, the test send looks fine, and then the email sits in someone's inbox for three days while the send date gets closer. When it does come back, the feedback is on an old version, half of it contradicts the other half, and nobody can say for certain who approved what.
In a lot of email teams, sign-off takes longer than writing and building the email put together. It's rarely because approvers are slow on purpose. It's because nobody has told them exactly what they're approving, by when, or what "approved" means.
This guide is about that one step. For the whole process from brief to send, see the email campaign workflow.
Why sign-off stalls
The same handful of causes come up again and again.
- Nobody knows they're an approver until the email lands in their inbox.
- No reply-by date, so the request sits behind everything that does have one.
- Too many approvers, all with equal weight, so one late reply holds up everyone.
- Feedback in five places: email replies, chat, comments on a PDF, a call.
- Approving a screenshot, then finding the live email is different.
- No version numbers, so people review an old draft.
- Open-ended rounds, where each reply triggers another small change and another round.
Each of these is a process problem, which is good news: you can fix them without changing your ESP.
Who should sign off what
The quickest fix is to give every approver a narrow job. An approver who checks everything checks nothing well, and takes longer doing it.
- Campaign owner: the offer, audience, timing and the call to action. Usually the person who wrote the brief.
- Brand: tone, logo, colours, type, imagery. Ideally this is mostly automated with rules, so the human only judges what rules can't.
- Legal or compliance: claims, prices, terms, disclaimers, regulated wording. Only for emails that need it; agree up front which ones do.
- Market or language leads: the local version. Translation, local prices and dates, local legal lines, whether it makes sense in that market.
- Client (for agencies): the final yes on their own brand and offer.
Decide which of these are required for each type of email, and which are optional (they see it and can comment, but you don't wait for them). A routine newsletter might need one approver. A regulated promotion going to six markets might need five. Write it down once, by email type, so you're not deciding afresh every week.
Rounds and versions
Give every version a number and every round an end.
- A round is one request to a set of approvers with one deadline. Everyone in the round reviews the same version.
- A version is a specific build. Feedback always refers to a version number.
- Collect all feedback for a round, then make one set of changes. Don't change the email while people are still reviewing it.
- Agree a limit. Two rounds is a sensible default. A third round means something was missed at the brief stage, and that's worth knowing.
When a round closes, the builder makes the changes, bumps the version and sends round two only to the people whose feedback needs checking. The brand lead doesn't need to re-approve a corrected price in the German version.
Approve the real email, not a screenshot
Screenshots and PDFs are where sign-off goes quietly wrong. A screenshot can't show whether links work, what the subject line and preheader say, how it looks in dark mode, what the alt text is, or whether the email in the ESP is the one in the picture.
Send approvers something as close to the live email as possible: the built HTML in a browser, or a test send. They should see the from name, subject line and preheader alongside the body, because those are often the parts people most want to change. If approvers can only see an image, they're approving a design, not an email.
Outside approvers
Clients, external legal teams, franchisees and translators often don't have a login to your tools, and won't make one. Don't make that their problem.
- Give them a private link to the email that works without an account.
- Let them approve, request changes or comment in the same place, not by replying to an email.
- Tell them in one line what you need from them and by when.
- Save regular outside approvers as contacts, so the right person gets each request without someone looking up an address.
Two-stage sign-off for agencies
If you're an agency, there are really two sign-offs: yours and your client's. Running them at the same time is how clients end up seeing typos.
Two-stage sign-off fixes the order. Your team approves each round first; only then does the client see it. When the client asks for changes, those go back through your team before the client sees the next version. Clients see fewer, cleaner rounds, and your contract's "two rounds of amends" means something, because you can see exactly how many rounds went to the client.
Reply-by dates and reminders
Every sign-off request needs a reply-by date, worked back from the send date with room for one more round.
As a starting point:
- Routine email, one market: 1 working day per round.
- Several markets or a client: 2 working days per round.
- Legal or compliance review: agree a standard turnaround with them, often 3 to 5 working days, and book it into the plan before the build starts.
Then remind people, but not too often. One reminder the working day before the reply-by date, and one after it if they've missed it, is enough. Automate it if you can, so nobody has to chase. If a required approver misses the deadline, escalate to the campaign owner rather than sending a third reminder; it's their call whether to move the send date.
What to check before it goes for sign-off
Approvers shouldn't be finding broken links. Run the technical checks first, using a pre-send email checklist: links, tracking, images, alt text, plain-text version, unsubscribe, rendering and spam risk. Sign-off is for judgement, not for things a builder could have caught.
The sign-off checklist
Give each approver this list, or the part of it that's theirs.
Content and offer
- The offer, price and dates match the brief and the landing page.
- Any terms, conditions and exclusions are present and correct.
- Claims ("best", "fastest", "save up to") can be backed up.
- The call to action is clear and goes to the right page.
Subject line, preheader and sender
- The from name is right for this audience.
- The subject line and preheader read well together and match the content.
- No clipped or broken text on mobile.
Brand
- Logo, colours, type and tone are on brand.
- Images are approved for use, and nothing is off-brand or out of date.
Markets and languages
- Each language version has been checked by someone who reads it.
- Local prices, currency, date formats and legal lines are right.
- Merge tags and personalisation survived translation.
Legal and compliance
- Sender identification, postal address and unsubscribe are present, as your local law requires.
- Regulated wording, risk warnings or disclaimers are present where needed.
- The email is going to people who have agreed to receive it.
Final
- You're approving the latest version, and you can see its number.
- You've said "approved" or "changes needed" in the agreed place, not in a side chat.
Keep a record
Once an email is approved, keep a record of who approved which version, and when, with the final email itself. At minimum: the version, each approver's name and role, their decision, the date and time, and any comments.
For most teams this is about sanity. When someone asks in March who signed off November's pricing error, you can answer in a minute. It also makes the next similar campaign quicker, because you can see what was approved last time.
For regulated teams, it's a requirement. Two examples, at a high level and not as advice:
- US broker-dealers: under FINRA Rule 2210, a "retail communication" includes written or electronic communication sent to more than 25 retail investors within any 30-day period, so most marketing emails qualify. An appropriately qualified registered principal must approve each one before the earlier of its use or filing, and records must include the approving principal's name and the date of approval, kept for the period set by SEC Rule 17a-4.
- UK financial services: financial promotions must be communicated or approved by an FCA-authorised firm, and the FCA Handbook's COBS 4.11 requires a firm to make an adequate record of each financial promotion it communicates or approves.
Health, alcohol, gambling and other regulated sectors have their own rules. If you work in one, ask your compliance team exactly what the record has to show, and build your sign-off around that.
A simple sign-off timeline
For a single-market email sending on a Thursday:
- Monday morning: build finished and pre-send checks done. Version 1 goes to round one, reply by Tuesday midday.
- Monday afternoon: reminder goes out the working day before.
- Tuesday midday: round one closes. Builder makes one set of changes.
- Tuesday afternoon: version 2 to round two (only those whose changes need checking), reply by Wednesday midday.
- Wednesday afternoon: approved. Record saved. Scheduled.
- Thursday: send, with a day in hand you didn't have to use.
Add a day per round for each extra market or a client, and agree legal turnaround separately.
Setting this up in Mailfois
Mailfois has sign-off built around these steps: numbered rounds and versions on the real email, outside approvers by private link with no account, two-stage sign-off for agencies, reply-by dates with automatic reminders, and a printable approval record, with approved emails kept in a Library. There's more on the email approval software page, and an honest comparison of the options in best email approval software.
Frequently asked questions
How many people should approve a marketing email?
As few as the email needs. One owner for routine emails, plus brand, legal and market leads only when the email touches their area. Mark each approver as required or optional so optional reviewers don't hold up the send.
How many rounds of amends is normal?
Two rounds is a good default. If you regularly need three or more, look at the brief and the pre-send checks: something is reaching approvers that should have been settled earlier.
Should approvers see a screenshot or the live email?
The live email, or a test send. A screenshot can't show working links, the subject line and preheader, alt text or dark mode, so people end up approving a picture rather than the email that goes out.
What is EDM approval?
It's what many teams in Australia and New Zealand call email sign-off. EDM stands for electronic direct mail, and the process is the same: the right people approve the final email before it's sent.
How long should I keep email approval records?
Keep them with the final email for as long as your organisation keeps campaign records. Regulated firms have set periods, such as the SEC Rule 17a-4 periods that FINRA Rule 2210 points to, so check with your compliance team.
